Social media has changed the face not only of communication and marketing, but of business in general. And of nearly everything else as well.
Trying to navigate the changing world of social media is a daunting and challenging process for most companies. For both startups and large organisations. For B2Cs and B2Bs. For frontline staff and CEOs.
What to use it for? How to go about? Which channels? Who? How often? And, finally, do we really need to do this…
Luckily, there’s a number of blogs out there that can help you learn the ropes. Actually, there are thousands of them. So to make life just a little bit easier for you we’ve listed what we think are the 7 best, most high quality blogs on the topic of social media.
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MarketingProfs
MarketingProfs, led by social media and content marketing pioneer Ann Handley, is a great resource for everything social media and marketing. Apart from good, sound articles and blog posts, the site offers tools, tutorials, online seminars and not least the superb Marketing Smarts podcast hosted by Kerry O’Shea Gorgone.
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Convince and Convert
This blog, led by social media guru Jay Baer, provides actionable insights and articles. Over the years, Jay Baer has widened the scope of Convince and Convert to include new areas such as influencer marketing and digital customer service. Jay Baer has mixed it all up with some killer podcasts, and a couple of best-selling marketing books too.
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Jon Loomer
Speaking of social media ads. Advertisers have seen improved results from their social ads the past couple of years. Today, social ads is a dedicated sales channel for many. And companies can even manage the campaigns themselves. To help guide them – and guide agencies too – you only need one man… Jon Loomer. He’s rightly considered the leading expert on Facebook ads. Do what he says and get ready to see some tangible business results!
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Brian Solis
Brian Solis is not a practitioner, but rather a digital analyst. He’s not particularly focused on just the latest trends and tools, but more looking at the overall direction of digital business. That should interesting for any business. Because short-term is, well, short-term. You need to know what you really can and want before you start your journey, in social media marketing and in business in general.
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Gary Vaynerchuk
Mr. GaryVee is all over the place. A marketing prodigy on steroids. Apart from blogging, writing and speaking, Vaynerchuk is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO and co-founder of VaynerMedia, a full-service digital agency. His videos and articles are entertaining, fast-paced and they cut right to the chase. They give hands-on advice on how to take it to the next level. The time for bulls*** is over, man. Or what do you say, Bob Hoffman?
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Buffer Blog
Also, there’s the great blog over on Buffer (which is a very recommendable social media management tool). The blog, led by Kevan Lee, provides helpful, insightful advice on everything within social media and content marketing. Useful and relevant.
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The Ad Contrarian
Finally, you might wonder if social media marketing and advertising has gone astray… In that case, you need to check out the AdContrarian website. Here, legendary advertising man Bob Hoffman offers a healthy dose of scepticism towards today’s media and advertising landscape. Yes, social media revolutionised how we communicate, but then… Well, maybe you should just watch Hoffman’s keynote “The Golden Age of Bullshit”.
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As said, there are many other great resources out there, but these are the ones we read the most. And therefore naturally the ones we recommend the most. But do let us know if there are other blogs you feel deserves a mention.